“[My] father, Spence Monroe…was a very worthy and respectable citizen possessed of good landed and other property. [My] mother, Elizabeth Jones, was a very amiable and respectable woman, possessing the best domestic qualities, a good wife and good parent.”
James Monroe, 1830
James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758, to Spence and Elizabeth Jones Monroe. Over a century earlier his paternal great-great-grandfather, Andrew Monroe, emigrated to America from Scotland and patented a large section of land in Westmoreland County, Virginia. It was on a tract of this land that his birthplace stood, a modest two-story house surrounded by farm- and wetlands. Monroe attended the only school in the county just 11 weeks out of the year – the rest of his time was spent working on the family’s farm. Both of his parents had died by the time he was 16, and Monroe and his siblings were taken in by his maternal uncle Joseph Jones. In 1774 Jones took Monroe to Williamsburg and enrolled him in the College of William and Mary, where he met peers who shared his ideals and joined him in the storming of the Governor’s Palace in 1775.
Timeline:
- Ca. 1650: Andrew Monroe of Scotland patents 1,100 acres in Westmoreland County
- Ca. 1752: Spence Monroe and Elizabeth Jones marry, farm 500 acres on Monroe Creek
- 1758: James Monroe born at Monroe Hall, Westmoreland County (April 28)
- 1769: Enrolls at Rev. Archibald Campbell’s Academy, Westmoreland County
- Ca. 1772: Death of mother Elizabeth Jones Monroe
- 1774: Enters College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia
- 1774: Death of father Spence Monroe
- 1775: Monroe and other college students seize arms from Governor’s Palace
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